Company Celebrates Twenty Years Working with Volunteer Firefighters

Penflex, Inc. to offer free LOSAP analysis to Long Island towns as part of celebration

Latham, NY - Penflex, Inc., a professional services firm located in upstate New York is offering Long Island volunteer fire departments and towns a free analysis of their LOSAPs (length of service award programs) as part of the companies 20 year anniversary.

"We have a lot of volunteer firefighter friends in Long Island and we're thrilled to be extending this offer to them and their communities," says Ed Holohan, President and Actuary of Penflex. "Improperly funded LOSAPS can come as an unwelcome surprise to the departments and town board members who sponsored them. We're offering a free, objective analysis to ensure that these excellent recruitment and retention tools are viable now and into the future."

Underfunded LOSAPS have been in the news since March of 2008 when an investigative series by Newsday detailed the potential underfunding of LOSAPS in some of New York's more than 800 volunteer fire departments. Now, town councils and departments all over the country are seeking to ensure their programs are funded properly so these programs remain viable recruiting tools for years to come.

"LOSAPS are increasingly popular tools nationally as volunteer fire departments look for ways to increase recruitment and retention. It's a terrific way for a town to recognize these heroes in their own communities while ensuring they will have adequate numbers of volunteers to provide the service they've come to rely on," says Holohan. "Underfunded LOSAPS can be ticking time bombs and often the sponsoring town officials are caught off guard. But we're here to assure them that underfunded programs can be fixed and it's best to catch them early."

As Penflex continues its celebration of 20 years serving the volunteer firefighter community the company hopes to be able to roll out this free offer to other New York communities and, eventually, to offer it nationally.

Anthony Hill, Vice President of Penflex, adds, "We've administered nearly 400 LOSAP programs nationally and we certainly recognize the value of these programs for the fire departments that use them. Penflex has discovered dozens of underfunded LOSAPS and we're experts at repairing these programs. The last thing a community wants to do with a successful recruitment program is scrap it when it's so hard to find volunteers these days. We can show them how to save their programs."